


The Witness Protection Program

by sarcasticmama



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-06
Updated: 2014-04-06
Packaged: 2018-01-18 08:08:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1420915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcasticmama/pseuds/sarcasticmama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Logan Echolls is killed in a car bomb during her Senior Year at Hearst, Veronica Mars is devastated. Against her father's wishes she launches an investigation into his death, but quickly discovers that there are many pieces of the puzzle that don't make sense. Blocked by the FBI at every turn, and struggling not to succumb to grief, she dives into the investigation, determined to find whoever did this to her friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Witness Protection Program

She found herself walking down the street. It was dusk, and the setting sun made the air around  her felt hazy and heavy.  In the distance she could see a man walking down the street, away from her.  She tried to quicken her steps to catch up to him, but he kept moving further away. He crossed the street and headed towards a black sports car when she suddenly panicked. She was trying to run towards him, but every step she took felt like her legs were made out of lead.

She yelled out his name, she was sure that she had, but he didn't stop. Instead he opened the car door and got inside; but before he closed the door, he turned, looked directly at her, and smiled. It was her favorite smile, the one she so rarely saw. The one that looked straight through her and made her heart feel light; feel loved. She was still so far away from him, but she could swear that she heard him say, “It's going to be alright.”

A split second later the car exploded in a blaze of heat and fiery metal. She felt the heat singe her face and the force of the explosion threw her backwards, but before she hit the ground she awoke in her bed screaming his name; the same as she had every time she closed her eyes in the past 4 weeks.

As reality came crashing back, she was gasping for air, and tried frantically to disentangle herself from the bed sheets. She swung her feet off the bed and onto the floor and with a whispered oath she buried her head in her hands and tried to hold back the flood of tears that usually threatened followed this recurring nightmare. Feeling a little calmer, she glanced at the alarm clock next to her bed and read 4:00 am. Another night with so little sleep, it was becoming a bad habit.

She glanced down at the foot of her bed and saw her laptop was in sleep mode, and pulling it back up onto her lap she woke it from its slumber. A quick glance at the screen showed the website that was displaying the latest news story on the investigation into the car bomb that had killed Logan Echolls. She'd read it so many times that by now she could have read it aloud from memory.

She took a deep breath, bracing herself, and flipped through the displayed photos of the car, taken by bystanders before the police had arrived and taken over the scene. One in particular made her pause each time she saw it.  In it, the car was completely engulfed in flames and the barest shadow of a body could be seen leaning over the steering wheel.

The grief came swiftly and she bit her lip trying to prevent herself from crying, and she clicked rapidly to move to the next photo in the set. His car had been parked at the end of a relatively busy street, and a security camera from a nearby store caught an image of Logan walking to the car, and then moments after he entered, the car exploded. The video rights were sold before the day was over, and the explosion was getting major air time. The final photo in the article showed Logan standing arm in arm with his parents. It was nearly 6 years old now, taken at his father's last movie premiere.  

Veronica stared at the photo, recognizing the tightness in Logan's eyes and half smile he had given for the press; he had not been happy. His family life at that point was in shambles and the strain of the facade would drive his mother to commit suicide less than 3 months later.

She rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hands, and taking another deep breath, tried to clear her thoughts and think objectively, to think like an investigator would. Another quick glance at the article displayed the words that were haunting her. Leads on the case were falling thin, and already the investigation was being pushed onto the back burner. It was being assumed that Logan’s lifestyle was somehow to blame. There were tons of celebrity news reporters that were willing to sit around and discuss his sordid past, and dredge up his family's history over and over. But as far as interest in solving the case, that seemed to be secondary to the public's clamor for gossip.

Meanwhile, Veronica mused, those few that cared for him were left without answers, or closure. She hit a few keys and the web browser closed and she opened a file labeled “Logan”.  Staring at the very limited amount of information that she had collected so far on his murder, she could feel the frustration and grief mounting afresh.

Her access to information on this case was minuscule. She couldn't get a copy of the official file or crime scene photos since the bombing had taken place in San Francisco. The FBI was in charge of the investigation; indeed was almost the first to arrive on scene, since the first reports of a car bomb generally were thought to be related to terrorism. Veronica rubbed her eyes, fatigue ever present, remembering not too fondly her first visit to the FBI for information.  Using her P.I license to get in the door, she had approached the Agents in Charge of the investigation, hoping to be able to claim that she had been hired by a member of the Echolls family, but that hadn't gone as she had hoped.

{Flashback}  
Veronica walked across the crowded bullpen and after stopping to get information at the floor’s reception desk she was pointed in the direction of two desks where two men sat. They were polar opposites, one seated, his dark jacket and tie in perfect condition. He looked like he could have been sitting on a yacht with his slightly tousled blonde hair and blue eyes. The man at the desk opposite of his was more of what she had been expecting. Short dark hair, almost a military cut, and he stood, leaning over his desk reading some papers. His jacket was off and his gun holster fastened across his shoulders stood out even more against the white shirt he wore with sleeves rolled up.

She took a deep breath, trying to project calm and confidence in this first meeting, and walked over until she was in their line of sight. She gave them both a quick assessing glance and smiled before speaking. “Hi, I understand that you are the Special Agents in charge of the investigation of the Logan Echolls case?”

The darker haired agent turned towards her and with a quick glance at her petite figure turned back to his desk to pick up a land line. “Get a load of this one,” he said with a nod to his partner. “Listen kid, I don't know what news organization you are with but the answer is the same; No comment, no interview. So do me a favor and get back to whatever crappy news source you work for and tell ‘em to stay the hell out of my face,” and he turned his back to her, and sat on his desk.

The other Agent looked up with interest but made no move to help her, so Veronica moved around to the front of the desk until she was facing him again. Glancing down at his desk, she caught a glimpse of a name plate, Anthony Rooks, “Listen Special Agent Rooks, is it,” she asked as she dug into her bag, drawing out her badge and flashed him her PI license. He glanced down at her, and grimacing a little more, turned the receiver away from his mouth, “My name is Veronica Mars, and I've been hired by Logan Echolls family to work on-.”

“What are you like 12? His family huh,” Agent Rooks interrupted. “You mean the half sister or whatever? Yeah, she’s been on every station recently, she looks really broken up.” Then he muttered into his phone for the person on the other end to hold on a minute. “Listen sweetheart, whatever sort of scam you have going, trying to charge a grieving family, I don’t give a rats ass.”

Veronica took a deep breath, trying to bite down on the sharp retort that came to mind, and tried to be pleasant. “Listen, I just need to request copies of the Autopsy files and -”

“What part of I don’t give a rats ass do you not get. This is an ongoing investigation we are talking about.”

“Those records are a matter of public record,” Veronica began, her temper heating up. “The FBI can only delay the release of those records for two weeks while the investigation is ongoing.”

“Yeah,” Agent Rooks snorted with derision, “except Classified files. You know what those are, right? Sorry to burst your bubble, but the case and all of its files,” he said with a sneer, “have been deemed Classified.”

Veronica stood there, stunned, unable to move. “On what grounds,” she asked quieter now.

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation doesn't need to explain its classification system to you.”

Feeling her temper get the better of her, she snapped out, “What exactly does the death of the son of a former Hollywood heart throb, and murderer,” she said with a grimace, “have to do with National Security.”

“The type that doesn't need to be explained to someone who got a PI’s license out of a cereal box. Listen, blondie,” he said with a glimmer in his own eye, “You can go back to the family and tell them that this matter will only be handled by FBI, not the local cops, not entertainment weekly, or whatever other crappy magazine they are currently giving press access to these days, and definitely not by some little upstart who thinks she is a private eye.” He slammed the phone down on the desk, “We got word,” he reached for his jacket forcing Veronica to have to take a step back, “time to move". Then with a quick glance at her, he strode out of the bullpen towards the elevator.

His partner stood more slowly, taking his time to fix his jacket as he watched her. “You’ll have to excuse Tony,” he told her. “He can be a bit of a hothead, but he really does care. We’re going to do everything that we can do to ensure that we determine the motive behind Mr. Echolls death and find those responsible. Please  pass that onto the family.” With a more sympathetic nod, he too walked away leaving Veronica standing in the middle of the bullpen to make her own way out.

She waited another moment to ensure that she wouldn’t catch up to the two Special Agents in the elevator, and as she was leaving the floor, she turned back and made a beeline towards the desk where she had gotten information. The young woman at the receptionist desk she had spoken to before, saw her and smiled as she approached. "Did you find them?"

Veronica bit down a retort and gave the girl a woe is me smile. "Yeah, wow. Special Agent Rooks practically took my head off back there".

The young woman smiled in sympathy. "Oh, Tony is a real softie at heart, all bark, no bite. Did you get what you needed?"

Veronica shook her head, and bit her lip as though she were worried. “No, in fact he was really rude. I hate to consider it, but I might need to go over his head and make a complaint to his boss. Do you know who he reports to?”

The assistant nodded, and pulled open her top drawer. “Sure do”, and pulled out a card handing it to Veronica. “Here you go. I hope you don’t need to, but his boss is Assistant Director Todd Knells”. She gave Veronica a quick smile, “I hope he is able to help”, and with a quick smile turned to answer her ringing phone.

Veronica walked away from the desk heading towards the elevator and as she glanced down at the name on the card she stopped in her tracks. Assistant Director Todd Knells-RICO office.

{End Flashback}

 

She had done a lot of digging since then. Her dad had taught her that when you couldn't find information on the suspect, you dug into the people around them, and she’d applied that quite literally to Special Agents Anthony Rooks, who she promptly christened 'Special Agent Attitude' and Special Agent Timothy West, or 'The Nice Guy'.

She dug into their background, their credit cards, their family history, anything she could dig up in the paper about them. There wasn’t much, the FBI tended to leave out the names of Investigating officers, but she did find lots of information on the office that they worked for through public records. There had been a big push in previous years to halt the recurring growth of organized crime.

One family she was already painfully aware of, the Sorokin family; although their territory seemed to be located in the more northern areas of California, there were more than a few articles that mentioned arrests of the people closest to them, including one that had taken place about 2 years ago she hadn't heard of for Gory Sorokin. He was still in jail for credit card fraud, but she had not eliminated him from the list. After all, people could still order hits from jail, couldn't they.

The other family she had not heard of, but from what she had learned in the paper she wondered why. The Milano family was prevalent throughout the LA papers and arrest records that she had dug up at the city’s archive, and the history of that family's involvement in crime went back before the 1930’s. The family had about 120 members back before the 80’s but in the 90’s during a big RICO bust most if not all had been sent to prison. Newspapers didn't mention any arrests until 2002 when several members of the Milano family started popping back up, mostly in Las Vegas, but then here and there in various old case files names were mentioned but no connections could be made.

Veronica rose from her bed and walked over to the rooms sole window, and leaning her head against the cool glass, stared out at the soft glow that indicated dawn was approaching. As she watched the glimmer of light she tried to remember some of her last conversations with Logan. After the whole Sorokin beat-down incident, Logan had been suspended from Hearst, and rather than return at the end of his suspension he had unexpectedly decided to withdraw from school completely. She and Piz had continued to date for about 8 or 9 months after the big fight, so Logan had kept his distance, but she could admit now that her heart had not been in it, and they slowly drifted to a distant place where a break up was inevitable.

She had wondered for a time if Logan would hear that she was single, and make a move, but if anything he avoided campus or seeing any of his friends even more. Word began getting back to her that he had begun gambling heavily at casino’s in Vegas and in local underground poker matches. His reputation as a bad boy, far out of her reach would have been cemented, except for the handful of times that she had run into him. He had seemed quiet, and nervous around her; she might have even gone so far as to say shy, not cocky or brash about his wealth as his reputation was suggesting. But he never made a move. So she did what she did best, buried her emotion for him as deep as she could and focused solely on school, her cases, and tried not to feel her heart breaking as he seemed to drift further and further from her.

In their actual last conversation she had run into him at a coffee house that she had begun to frequent off campus. She considered herself a regular, and often went there to do homework, and escape the confinement of her apartment with Mac, and one Tuesday afternoon walked in to find him sitting on her favorite couch. He held a mug of coffee in his hands that he stared at, as though it was explaining to him the mysteries of the universe, but he quickly broke from his deep thought as she approached.

{Flashback}

He smiled, just a quick lifting of his lips that faded to a shy, almost hesitant grin. “Hi,” he said quickly, and stuffed his hands deep into his pockets.

“Logan,” she said quietly as she approached the coach slowly, “hi.” There were only a few people in the shop at this time of day which was why she tended to prefer it.

They awkwardly stood for another moment, silently studying each other, each cataloging the small changes in the other that was apparent only in lovers eyes.

“You cut your hair again,” he said with a soft sad smile.

She reached for a strand absently, and nodded, biting her lip unsure what to say next.

“You look good,” he said his voice soft, and then with a wider grin as he shrugged his shoulders, “but then when haven’t you looked good.”

Veronica pulled the strap of her bag off her shoulder and placed it on the floor as she moved towards the couch. As she sat, he slowly did the same, and she turned her body to face him. “What are you doing here?” she asked him.

He gestured to the mug, “Enjoying a good cup of joe,” he quipped, but the smile fell flat. He lifted a hand and ran his fingers through what she noticed already was pretty messy hair. “I've never been in here before,” he said risking a quick glance around the room before returning his gaze to her. “It’s nice.”

“I come here a lot,” she admitted, then she tilted her head to the side as a thought occurred to her, “Did you know that?” and she gestured between the two of them.

Logan gave a slow nod. “I wanted to see you,” he admitted. “I just wanted,” and he stared at her again before he broke his gaze away from her. “I may not be around for a while,” he said slowly, “and I just wanted to tell you”…..and he faltered again, this time rubbing his hands over his face pressing hard against his eyes.

She hesitated only for a moment before touching him lightly on the shoulder. “Hey,” she whispered, “are you alright,” concern evident in her eyes.

Logan looked down at her small hand on his bicep, and he reached for it and gripped it tightly in his. “I’m just tired,” he admitted. “I haven’t actually been to bed yet.”

She paused for a moment and then grinned, “Was that a line?”

He let out a quick bark of a laugh and squeezed her fingers, bringing her hand together between both of his. “If I said yes, would it have worked?”

Veronica's smile slipped slowly from her face and she couldn't bring herself to answer him truthfully.

He played with her fingers for a moment, studying them, never raising his eyes to hers, tracing her knuckles before placing her fingers in his own. “There’s some stuff,” he said slowly, “some stuff going on, and you may hear….some things about me in the next couple of weeks.”

“Will they be true,” she asked quietly.

He hesitated again and slowly shook his head before lifting his eyes to her face, piercing her with his gaze. “Not everything is black and white in life, you know that. It's just, I shouldn't even say anything, but I didn't want you to think-,” and he broke off again and leaned back against the couch and stared at the ceiling.

“Logan,” her alarm growing, “are you in trouble?”

He turned his head to look at her, shaking his head wordlessly, no. He released her hand and stood abruptly, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he turned to face her. “I should go,” he said reluctantly.

As she opened her mouth to ask him to stay, he turned back once more. “When this is all over with and the dust clears, I’d like to see you. Would that be ok?”

“Logan, what's going on”, she asked again.

“Nothing,” he said with another shake of his head, “it's nothing. Can I call?”

Resigning herself to the cryptic answers, she gave a small nod, “You know where to find me”, she said as she gestured to the room, and tried to give him a smile.

He stared at her once more, looking at her with such longing that she opened her mouth to say his name, but he turned quickly and walked out of the coffee bar.

She stared after him, and then whispered to herself, “it was good to see you too,” and then looked down at the untouched cup of coffee that he had left behind.

 

Less than two weeks after she had seen him, he had been killed in the car bomb, leaving her devastated in its wake.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading my first veronica Mars Fanfiction. This will be a multiple chapter story. Stick around and let me know what you think. Find more on me, and my other work on tumblr at Sarcasticmama918


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